Few inside or outside the program are talking. Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson and Coach Ed Conroy
released statements Tuesday but otherwise have not addressed the matter
publicly.

But this much is certain: April 2, 2013 will go down as a
day of infamy for Tulane hoops. There's no way to sugarcoat losing a quarter of
your roster, including your two leading scorers three years into a coaching
tenure.

It's unclear if there is a common thread in the departures. On
the surface, each transfer appears to be isolated from the other.

Davis is expected to graduate next month and wants to explore
professional opportunities either in the NBA or overseas.

Cherry is also slated to graduate and wants to play his
final season closer to his hometown of Charlotte, N.C.

Nwogbo rarely played and apparently sought a better fit for
his talent.

Tarrant's father said his son was unhappy and wanted to play
closer to his Alabama home.

Tulane is far from alone in this situation. Ben Braun's Rice
program experienced a similar crisis last season. After going 19-16 and
advancing to the quarterfinals of the CIT, five Owls players transferred and
another turned pro.

The situations at Tulane and Rice are part of a growing –
and some would say disturbing -- trend in college basketball. Last
year more than 450 Division I players transferred. That's an annual transfer
rate of 12 percent, a slight increase from the standard 10 percent rate of
previous years. In comparison, football and women's basketball players transfer
at a rate of about 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

And the transient rate doesn't appear to be
slowing down any time soon. Since the 2013 season ended, already more than 100
players have announced their plans to switch schools, according to research by
CBSSports.com's Jeff Goodman.

This supports NCAA statistics, which show that 40
percent of all college basketball players leave their original schools within
their first two years.

The transient nature of the prep school and
summer AAU scene has undoubtedly contributed to the problem. So, too, is the
impatient nature of what Louisville Coach Rick Pitino calls today's "microwave
society," where instant gratification isn't just sought but demanded.

Now, we're seeing a new phenomenon, the upward
transfer. Players, such as Tarrant, from lower-profile schools who seek to improve
their situations by switching to higher-profile programs.

Tarrant's father said his son wants to play
closer to home but word around Tulane is that the talented but overlooked
prospect from Pleasant Grove, Ala., also might want a larger stage than
Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse to showcase his skills.

Tarrant's departure is the most surprising of all. By all
accounts, he was happy at Tulane. He was the second-leading scorer and trailed only Davis in minutes played last season. He was expected to
be the cornerstone of next season's team.

His departure creates a gaping hole in the backcourt for Conroy's team and a cloud of negativity for his program.

Whether Conroy's sometimes controlling nature contributed to
this mess or he's simply an innocent victim of circumstances is something for Dickson to determine. He supported Conroy this week but
he owes it to his Tulane constituency to thoroughly evaluate the program. One
or two transfers can be explained away. Four is not so easy to dismiss,
especially one year after two other players -- Grant Florentinos and Malte
Ziegenhagen -- left the program.

It's a monumental setback for a program that appeared poised
to take the next step. Tulane won 20 games for the first time in 13 years this season. The Green Wave beat Alabama at Alabama and won a first-round game in the CIT
postseason tournament. With Davis and Tarrant on board, the Green
Wave could have harbored realistic NCAA Tournament hopes in 2013-2014.

But instead of a breaking through, the program broke down.
Conroy's fourth team will be lucky to produce a winning campaign. The program's
momentum has been derailed.

What's more, some Tulane insiders believe the exodus isn't
over.

Clearly, there is reason to worry on Willow Street. It's yet
another head-scratching development for Tulane's forlorn and frustrated fan
base. And it should cause some serious soul-searching at the Hertz and Wilson centers.